flour gold recovery options

[Bucketfreak68]

Hey guys well the year is off to a good start here in Indiana for me but I'm still faced with a problem I've been getting good gold and have not had problems finding it or a good concentration but as with others I know I'm losing gold while panning into the plastic tote box I pan in so as you can imagine I've got a good collection of cons that still have microscopic pieces of gold in it.
I go through quite a process to get the gold sorted from the small amount of black sands that inevitably end up in my snuffer bottle I dry my cons out get all the iron out with a magnet pan them suck the gold up with my snuffer bottle then empty that into a plastic dixey cup dry that out and pick the gold out with a jewelers loupe and an x-acto knife(yup its a process).
But to the question of this powder fine gold and what device would serve me the best I'm aware of the blue bowl and a few other devices used to recover fine gold but when those people show examples of how they work their fine gold and my fine gold well...they seem to be two different things all together different so I question rather or not these devices would work for me or not?
At any rate if anyone has any ideas or advice it would sure be welcome.

 

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[forhorsmn]

I've had the same question myself. What I'm going to try next is a Miller Table. There are some good designs online and I'm going to have a go at making one. From what I've seen from the videos on Youtube it may be what you're looking for.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

The blue bowl does work, as long as your cons are 50 mesh or smaller, but I think 100 mesh or smaller is better. Try Gold Prospecting Equipment by Gold-N-Sand , they have two inexpensive seperation methods.

 

[Kyle]

For the fine flour gold left in concentrates I use Aqua Regia to dissolve the gold into the Aqua Regia solution. Then I drop out pure gold from the Aqua Regia using another chemical. Aqua Regia is dangerous stuff and the fumes and acid will destroy your lungs if you breath it, but if you are careful it works great. I don't recommend using it until you are familiar with the process and become aware of the dangers that need to be addressed, but it is an option. For more info on Aqua Regia just google it. There are even some good youtube videos that go over the process.

 

[ahaulil]

This is what I use.
Being in the desert I use a puffer drywasher.
Then I run the concentrates into a 4 tray Gold Cube.
The results from the Gold Cube go onto my Black Magic (a miller table, I guess)
We snuffer off the table-also magnet the black sand.
The remainder we dry and pick with some needle tweezers.

 

[Bucketfreak68]

Hey all thanks for the good advice well I've figured something out that I've yet to put into action but will soon be doing so and it will be self built for the most part as an ex-electro platter I've worked with some of the most deadly chemicals there are and wouldn't be surprised if I'm not full of cancer the way it is so I tend to stay away from that and plus I don't need to be placed on the DEA's list of suspected drug manufacturers,and from experience I just don't want to deal with the special needs of discarding the used chemicals I use to tinker with photography mainly old school plate stuff.
What I have found as a suggestion,and this seems as if it will work for microscopic gold recovery so I wanted to share what I've learned my left over cons will have t be dried out again then processed down to at least 100 micron classification I will build a small flat bed recovery sluice I've already got what I need and its also primed on one side I will use this side to paint with a special paint that intended to be used as a chalk board(in other words its called chalk board paint sold in craft stores)the fellow who mentioned this said it worked well for him so I will see.
It would seem to me that this should work a rough surface with a recirculating pump at a slow flow rate should do the trick,in theory it should work like a Miller table in a micro sluice box form I figure since I've got the recirculating pump and the aluminum to do it I might as well give it a try the worse thing that can happen is it won't work.

 

[Goodyguy]

Believe it or not......A smooth surface stops the flour gold far better than a rough one due to coefficient of friction. Slate works best as it is slightly porous.
A roughened surface will cause just enough turbulence to cause the flatter micro gold to surf/float right on down the table even when using a surfactant.

For the very best results ......forget the coatings, and non porous materials, I tried them all. Go with slate, it really is superior for catching the micro gold.

GG~

 

[nickmarch]

The blue bowl does work, as long as your cons are 50 mesh or smaller, but I think 100 mesh or smaller is better. Try Gold Prospecting Equipment by Gold-N-Sand , they have two inexpensive seperation methods.

It is nasty and dangerous thats for sure! I've done it, still do at times but now I do it the right way! Get a resperator just in case you do breathe some of the fumes. Protective clothing. Don't even think about doing it inside. I learned what I've said above the hard way!

GG~ I've been thinking about a miller or shaker table. Gold is attracted to activated carbon. Given enough time gold will attach to activated carbon. What do you think about a miller table with activated carbon panels or fabric?

Carbon Fiber Fabric

.01" Carbon Fiber Panels

 

[Goodyguy]

The blue bowl does work, as long as your cons are 50 mesh or smaller, but I think 100 mesh or smaller is better. Try Gold Prospecting Equipment by Gold-N-Sand , they have two inexpensive seperation methods.

It is nasty and dangerous thats for sure! I've done it, still do at times but now I do it the right way! Get a resperator just in case you do breathe some of the fumes. Protective clothing. Don't even think about doing it inside. I learned what I've said above the hard way!

GG~ I've been thinking about a miller or shaker table. Gold is attracted to activated carbon. Given enough time gold will attach to activated carbon. What do you think about a miller table with activated carbon panels or fabric?

Carbon Fiber Fabric

.01" Carbon Fiber Panels

The first question that comes to mind is........ What process would work best for recovering the micro powder gold from the fabric?
Then....is it cost effective? How does black sand react to it? Also..... How does water react to the cloth..... does it bead? If so, it wont work.
Does the carbon have a slick texture, like graphite?

Really a slate bed miller table works like magic. First the tan sand washes down the table followed by the black sand and the gold just stops dead in it's tracks in the first few inches.
What more could you ask for? The hardest part is getting the micro gold off the table. A sucker bottle has a hard time with the super tiny powder speck gold.

 

[nickmarch]

The visible gold wouldn't be on the fabric long enough to attach to it. If recirculating, in time the really small below 50 micron or so will attach to the fabric but the visible gold would not attach. I'm thinking to scrape or suck it off but the fabric may be to fragile and fray. Skip this idea!

 

[TheNewCatfish]

I've seen lots of gold seperation machines and techniques in the three years i've been prospecting. The one i was most impressed by used a wet vac with a transparent half inch plastic hose attached to the intake using duct tape. The hose was coiled with 5 large loops. The end of the hose was stuck into a bucket of dry concentrate. By adjusting the power of suction (Get a machine with a variable control like his) he was able to run the white and black sand and dirt over the top of the loops while the heavier gold slid back to the bottom of the loops and remained there. I asked the operator if i could pan some of the material that ends up inside the wet vac. I saw the gold at the bottom of the loops of the tubes, but i couldn't help wondering how much gold was ending up in the wet vac. To my utter astonishment, the gold recovery was 100%. Believe me, i know how to drum fingers on a gold pan and walk the gold right out of material. THERE WAS NO GOLD left in the concentrate after seperation using suction and air. This method is cheap and effective. I will use it on my next trip to the mountains.

 

[Bucketfreak68]

So Goodguy this has worked for you with the really microscopic gold huh?
That was one of the devices I was looking into I had no idea what the actual table top was made of though,I guess that may be something to look into I just don't see the the blue bowl being what I need I'm not saying it doesn't work and there is a fellow who had produced one or a set up that would work but not for me at least not for $1100.00
At any rate I would like to thank everyone for the input and I've got some fresh cons on the broil even as I type this message I've almost got an entire Ball jar full of iron from a total of only 9 trips once again thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[Goodyguy]

It works, but is time consuming and unless you have lbs, and lbs, of worked concentrates containing thousands and thousands of micro specs then it's not worth the trade off for your time that could be better spent and more productive in the field.

It's really more productive and time efficient to just use mercury and a retort.
But since it's a hobby, playing with the cons is just plain fun, to heck with how many hours it takes.

I've spent hours and hours just to recover $2 worth of micro gold using a miller table.

GG~

 

[williamsingr]

I just recently was told the same thing, go with slate. About to set it up myself and see but expecting great results

 

[digger2525]

digger2525

Believe it or not......A smooth surface stops the flour gold far better than a rough one due to coefficient of friction. Slate works best as it is slightly porous.
A roughened surface will cause just enough turbulence to cause the flatter micro gold to surf/float right on down the table even when using a surfactant.

For the very best results ......forget the coatings, and non porous materials, I tried them all. Go with slate, it really is superior for catching the micro gold.

GG~

thanks for the tip.just got done with mine and it works great. fyi uesd old school calkboard its 3/8" think just right.

 

[TerryC]

thanks for the tip.just got done with mine and it works great. fyi uesd old school calkboard its 3/8" think just right.

Check with Astrobouncer. He built a miller table and posted it awhile back. TTC

 

[Goodyguy]

Here is one I built using pool table slate cut to size.......

 

[mamabear]

the ancients used a sheeps fleece to trap flour gold, hence the term the golden fleece

 

[digger2525]

nice table.i will try and get some pics on here.i'm just getting set up.so far i built a sluice,highbanker & a miller table all out of aluminum.to day i built the suction nozzle for my highbanker.P.S. i'm better in my shop with my welders and brakes then on this.tim a friend and i are heading out for a four day dig this wesday,wish us luck!

 

[russau]

GG thats a nice table you made! it looks like mine except i used ABS plastic for the bed.and i use a small scraper and a small paint brush to retreive my fine gold specks!i just gave the Gold Cube a intense once over with the maker (Mike Pung) at the St.Joseph, Missouri gold and treasure show and i cant beleive its good abilitys to save the really fine stuff and its addition of the (shovel to from the creek)classifier and drop riffel top. The Gold Cube is a winner in my eyes!! now to buy one!